


Blood of the Covenant

by windscryer



Series: tumblr prompts [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Brotp, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Originally Posted on Tumblr, baby's first punch, my little avengers: friendship is magic, prompt!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 23:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6349768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windscryer/pseuds/windscryer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't a lucky shot, not really. He'd been aiming for her face after all. He just never expected he'd actually <em>hit it.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood of the Covenant

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [Blood of the Covenant](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6738679) by [lilizwingli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilizwingli/pseuds/lilizwingli)



> prompted by and written for my lucy. you're the best, darling.

"So I have to ask," Tony said, bouncing lightly on his feet. His hands were up, but not aggressively so. "That first time, with Happy back in Malibu."

"What about it?" Natasha asked. She feinted to the left and then kicked his ankle on the right. It didn't take him down, but it stung, and it made her point: she could have taken him down if she wanted to. He needed to pay attention.

"If he hadn't insulted your assassin's honor, would you have pretended to be useless? Or were you going to hand him his ass no matter what?"

She aimed a fist at his gut that caught him a glancing blow, then dodged his return volley toward her head. He'd gotten closer that time, though.

Her lips curved into a Mona Lisa smile. "What do you think?" She dropped and swept her leg, taking him over. He twisted and rolled, trying to pin her, but she pushed forward and ended up on top, grinning down at him.

"If I already knew, I wouldn't be asking would I?"

She stood and offered him a hand up. He ignored it and she gave him an approving nod. Fool me once, he thought.

He brought his hands up again and she did the same, both of them settling into a ready stance.

"I mean, I know what your file said about Natalie Rushman. Who she was supposed to be. On paper she played the demure but aggressively competent secretary very well, but you were always a little too sharp around the edges for that."

He threw a fist at her head and she ducked and spun, elbowing him in the gut and then smashing her fist down on his thigh. He hissed and danced backward a step. That was going to leave a bruise.

"Of course I was sharp. I had to deliver paperwork to a notorious playboy who enjoyed perpetually dancing right on the edge of sexual harassment and who was sitting next to his girlfriend looking at my lingerie modeling pictures while his bodyguard made sexist comments to my face." She arched an eyebrow. "Natalie isn't an idiot."

Tony winced. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that. Happy… well, Pepper talked to him about it."

"I did too," she said. He gave her a surprised look. "After everything was over."

“And I’m sorry too. About…” He waved a hand. “Being a notorious playboy, etc.”

She shrugged. “We all have our masks we wear and yours aren’t unfounded. And anyway you danced on that line, but you never crossed it.” She gave him a smirk. “Trust me, we’d have had a discussion too if you had.”

And that was a terrifying thought.

Tony circled around, looking for an opening, letting the conversation die for a moment. He jabbed a few times and then ducked a few more—some more successful than others, but as Steve liked to say, "Bruise now or bleed later." Tony hated that saying, actually, that was what better body armor was for.

She threw him over her hip and he very nearly swept her legs and then they got to their feet and started circling again.

"Thanks for saving my life back then, by the way," he said and threw a quick jab at her jaw.

He had a half second to see the way her eyes widened and then his fist connected and her head snapped back. Pain burst across his knuckles as she went down in a tumblr of red hair and black yoga pants, rolling to her feet as the shock washed over him.

He stayed frozen for a second as she touched a finger to her lip and came away with fresh blood. She looked up at him and he scrambled backward instinctively. His muscles tightened and his hands were shaking as he held them half up and he knew his form was shit, but it's not like there was anything he could do anyway. She was going to kill him, oh god.

She barked out a laugh and then wiped her mouth on the back of her wrist, smearing more blood. Her grin was vicious and he could actually feel his balls shrivel up and attempt to retreat back into his body.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry. Oh my god, please don't kill me. I didn't— You were supposed to duck! You always duck! I swear, I didn't mean to—" he babbled uselessly.

"Relax, Tony. I'm not going to kill you."

She took a step forward and he backed up again, but hit the wall. Didn't stop his legs from pushing again anyway just in case he’d forgotten that he knew how to phase through solid brick.

She crossed the distance between them and he clenched his jaw and forced himself not to run. It was gonna hurt like hell, but she deserved to get a good solid punch in to make it fair. She didn’t need it, but he’d give it to her anyway.

She lifted her hand and put it on his shoulder and he only flinched a little. He was proud of that. No one would ever know because they weren't going to find his body, but he would know.

"Good job."

He blinked.

She turned and went to sit on the bench, snagging her water bottle and taking a long drink.

"I— What?" He stared at her. "No seriously, _what?_ That's it? I punched you. _I made you bleed._ "

She snorted and gestured with her water bottle. "That is the point of punching someone usually." She shrugged one shoulder. "Or knocking them out, but this is just sparring. We’ll save the concussions and head trauma for actual combat."

While he attempted to process what was going on—and watching her for when she inevitably got up and actually knocked him down because she was a master of luring people into a false sense of security—the door opened and Clint and Steve entered, duffel bags slung over their shoulders as they laughed about something.

They stopped when they saw him pressed against the wall and Natasha dabbing at her lip while looking in a small hand mirror.

"Is everything okay?" Steve asked in a tone that was about half an inch away from his Captain America voice.

Fuck. Now he was going to have to explain to Steve that he'd belted Natasha on the mouth and made her bleed. Steve was going to have to break his jaw. Pepper was going to be pissed. This was just not his week.

Natasha bounced up and crossed over to them, brushing her hair away to show off her face. "Tony hit me. He made me bleed!"

Tony cringed in anticipation of Steve's angry glare and Clint possibly producing a bow from somewhere and nailing him in the dick with an arrow.

"Seriously?" Clint said. Then he turned to Tony and came over. "Awesome!" he said, and put up a hand.

Tony flinched again, then stared at it in confusion when it stayed in the air. He looked at Clint. Who was still grinning.

Tony's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked in concern. Tony's eyes flicked over, but he was talking to Natasha.

"I'm great," she said, still grinning. "I never even saw it coming."

And that was weird because she actually sounded… proud of him?

"Hey," Clint said. "Are you gonna leave me hanging?"

Tony glanced at him and then returned the high-five almost absently before looking at Natasha and Steve again.

She was pantomiming a reenactment and Steve was starting to smile now too.

"What the hell?" he finally managed to squeak out. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What the hell, Romanoff? I punched you."

"Yeah," she said, beaming. She ran for her bag suddenly. "Oh I have to show Darcy! She owes me money now."

"What the _hell?"_ he repeated.

Steve was the one that finally rescued him even as Clint went to help Nat get a good angle for her picture.

"Tony, she's not upset."

"I'm getting that. What I don't get is why?"

Clint snorted. "Because she's been trying to teach you how to punch for months and honestly we were beginning to think it was a lost cause."

Tony’s mouth worked silently. "But… But I…" His brows drew down. He knew how to punch. He just couldn't punch super assassins.

Steve clapped him on the shoulder. "Iron Man is incredible, Tony, but someday you might not be able to rely on it being there. It's comforting to know you could handle yourself without it even against someone like Natasha."

Tony's shoulders slumped. "I… I guess." He studied her face as she tapped away at her phone, sending her picture off to Darcy apparently. It finally sank in that she was not only not about to beat his ass, but that she wasn’t even going to make him swear to keep it a secret if she was publishing it to the whole world. Or Darcy, but with how the former intern used Facebook that was basically the same thing. "You're really not upset?"

She tucked her phone away and crossed the floor to stand in front of him. Pushing up to her tiptoes she tugged his head down until she could press a kiss to his forehead. Then she looked him in the eyes. "I'm not upset, solnyshko. I'm very, very proud of you."

The tension drained out of his muscles and left him feeling a little like overcooked noodles. "Oh. Uh… Thanks." He scratched at the back of his neck. "I guess."

She patted his cheek and then leaned in to add quietly, "And you're welcome. Thank you for proving me right. You were worth saving."

His breath caught in his throat and she squeezed his neck and then turned and challenged Clint to a sparring match, taunting him with Tony's successful punch as proof that the archer was going soft.

Steve cocked his head and looked like he wanted to say something, then decided not to. "Come on," he said instead. "Let's watch her kick Clint's ass."


End file.
